Microcomputers in Medical Education

Abstract

Computer assisted learning (CAL) provides an interactive form of medical education. Material can be altered and updated with relative ease and made available to medical students on an open access basis. Students may use the teaching material on their own, enabling them to progress at their own pace or in groups which produces a high degree of interaction and discussion between members of the group. The eficacy of CAL has been demonstrated by many workers and the development of microprocessor based computers has reduced considerably the cost of suitable hardware. Several authoring systems are now available which allow medical teachers with no programming skills to prepare their own teaching material and thus increase the amount of suitable software for medical education.